Reading Putts.

virtuocity said:
The brain doesn't work well looking from behind the ball.

Try this:

View attachment 18830

1. Stand as per the illustration above, with the hole on the left and the ball on the right, far enough away to make a triangle. Not an exact science, and beware of stepping on your FC's line.

2. Face the middle of the line between the hole in the ball. FOCUS.

3. Standing, look at the hole. Then, look at the ball. Then, look at the hole. Then, STARE at the ball.

4. Staring at the ball, walk up to it and address it with your putter.

5. Trust it. Hole the putt.

By doing this from the side, your eyes will scan the break both back and forward from the ball to the hole. Your unconscious brain is smarter than your conscious thought processes. In the same way that you don't have to think hard about changing your stride when marching down a hill, your brain, by looking at "hole, ball, hole, ball" will do all of the maths for you.

Try it out on your practice green next time you get 5 minutes. If you trust it, it will help. If you don't, then you've only wasted 5 minutes.
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I'm sure there's something worth trying here but need a little help

Facing the line you cant just write the word 'focus' Focus on what? A visual focus on the grass between ball & hole or a mental focus on.... what?

Help ;)
 
After looking from the low side & behind the ball I like to "see" the whole travel of the ball over the length of the putt in my mind's eye. I then, without delay hit the ball along the starting line. On a good day I can get every medium length putt to pass within an inch of the hole if it doesn't go in.
 
I only really look at the line behind the ball - that seems enough for me
 
Slab said:
I'm sure there's something worth trying here but need a little help

Facing the line you cant just write the word 'focus' Focus on what? A visual focus on the grass between ball & hole or a mental focus on.... what?

Help ;)
Click to expand...

Focus Daniel-san. That means, stop yapping to your partners. Get the post-game bacon roll out of your head. Don't think about the last shot. Focus.

I struggle with this, and although I look like a fool (no change there), I start rapidly pressing my left thumb and index finger together as I do the 'hole, ball, hole, ball' routine.
 
snell said:
Silly question....but what does the low side mean??
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Stating the obvious it's the (generally) opposite side of the hole to the high side - the high side being where you putt down a slope to the hole. Pros always aim on the high side as gravity can always help a slight miss read or miss hit. Also missing on the high side - when your ball then rolls downhill to a halt you'll generally still be closer to the hole than if you miss on the low side
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Stating the obvious it's the (generally) opposite side of the hole to the high side - the high side being where you putt down a slope to the hole. Pros always aim on the high side as gravity can always help a slight miss read or miss hit. Also missing on the high side - when your ball then rolls downhill to a halt you'll generally still be closer to the hole than if you miss on the low side
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Nice one cheers.

Pretty self explanatory....almost embarrassing that I didn't know this :(
 
snell said:
Nice one cheers.

Pretty self explanatory....almost embarrassing that I didn't know this :(
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Amateurs (like us) tend to miss more often on the low side as for some reason we struggle to give the ball enough borrow on the high side and enough oomph to keep it on that line.
 
I start reading the putt or more the green in general as I approach it, because I find it easier to see the general slope of the green from further away. Then I read the putt from about one meter behind the ball. For long putts I focus more on the speed than on the line. I very rarely look at the putt from the other side of the hole, because I find that it confuses me more than it helps.
 
seochris said:
How do most of you read putts?

I was out yesterday and had real difficulty reading some putts? Some just broke the complete opposite of what I thought it would?

Do you read them from both behind and in front or just behind? How do you make the decision on which way it will brake. I went in front of some putts yesterday and it looked like it was going to break the other way from when I read it from behind.

i need some help....maybe I need to go to spec-savers.....:whistle:
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would look to the lie of the green on the approach to the green paying attention to the general topography and build that into a conscious method so the brain is switched back on long before the bag put down and the feet are on the green that often times starts to point things in the right direction in terms of slopes that will influence ball roll

would then read the putt from 6' behind the line standing still you often times get a sense of slope through the feet -folks been doing this long time before 'aimpoint' (don't have any particular issue with aimpoint)

should get a general sense through topography, looking from 6' behind (initially if read right at the ball from behind it can skew perspective some) which would be low-side and would always (longer putts) walk 6' (general approximation) down from the mliddle of the putt (ball to hole) on the low-side - important as it gives a greater sense of true distance as well as the line of the putt you gotta read pace - pace is key to reading the line (key to consistent pace is stroke tempo + technique)
(is the putt flat, uphill, downhill, along with weather and ground condition, grass length all other key considerations to pace, break, line) usually always some degree of slope/tilt for drainage

downhill putts break a bunch more than uphill putts - down to physics of ball roll

then with this 'read information' collected would 'focus in' on line at the ball as it gets marked/cleaned replaced (lined up with ball marking line if they used) - by picking a spot some 3,4 to 6" in front of the ball on line to the hole or on line to the aim point if a breaking putt -- so there's a real clear idea of the definite start direction of the putts roll

a good bunch of 'ams' miss on the low-side down to under-reading the so called 'apex' break point - 'true' break line always higher than the 'apex point' the putt first 'appears' to start to break

so a critical key to understanding this 'fall line' {where (direction) water would flow across the slope & incline along the length of a putt}
again key to this is understanding that due to gravity (on anything other than a flat/straight putt) a ball will start to 'break' virtually as soon as it leaves the putter face

so if folks have started the direction of the putt at the perceived break 'apex' point the ball will always arrive at the apex lower down (so low-side miss) you always need to start the aim line direction of the putt higher than the 'putts apex' - could give a whole bunch of figures as to why this is true but would all get a bunch even more complicated ..................... (any folks really interested in research into this would recommend buying and reading ('every shot counts' by Mark Broadie)

so taking a leap and accepting the above as being true - a good stat to keep say around 20' is misses on high-side to low-side if finding the miss is significantly more over 50% on one side or the other (just some ways under 50% low-side 'miss' tour pro/elite am is around normal whereas normal miss for 'club am index player' is around 70%)
so knowing where folks sit if this is tracked gives a good area of improvement possibility

.........then there's the mental side of not changing 'higher initial aim point' mid stroke ......
 
seochris said:
How do most of you read putts?

I was out yesterday and had real difficulty reading some putts? Some just broke the complete opposite of what I thought it would?

Do you read them from both behind and in front or just behind? How do you make the decision on which way it will brake. I went in front of some putts yesterday and it looked like it was going to break the other way from when I read it from behind.

i need some help....maybe I need to go to spec-savers.....:whistle:
Click to expand...

If you are first to putt, the pressure sometimes is on you to rush. don't. Again how do you spend your time on the green. The green is the focal point of four players who were talking rubbish on the tee and then 10 mins later on the green. If you are last, watch how the putts roll, by that I mean do they get going or struggle bounce and fart all the way and drop short.

for me first and foremost, it is the practise green. And I ALWAYS finish up with half a dozen three foot putts. Why? Where ever I putt from I try to put it in the dustbin lid area. So I don't want to miss a dustbin lidder and three putt.

I always always look sideways on at a putt because our green keeper puts the pins near the top of a down slope so if you put the ball past the hole with pace your dustbin lid become a dustbin Lorry.

They say that length is more important than line ( eg you can be three foot short but not three foot wide) me I am not to sure about that.

putting though for me is not like any of the other strokes you will play it is just something everyone does differently. It is the only aspect of my game I am totally happy with. Without opening a can of worms. A lot of that is to do with my putter.
She is a laydee.
 
I generally just look from behind the ball, although if it's a severe sloping green I'll probably have a look from the low side of the hole 50% of the distance between the ball and the hole. I also have a good look at the green as I'm walking up to it.
I also find looking from the other side of the hole can give me confusing reads, the complete opposite of what I see from behind the ball. Then it becomes a stand up and hope for the best putt.
 
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